Posted 11:06 am Monday, June 25, 2012
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Tyler ISD Teachers Take On NASA Training
A group of Tyler ISD teachers are learning how to better engage students in science education through some specialized NASA training.
Sheri Klug Boonstra, education leader for NASA's Mars Education Program, recently visited the district to help teachers learn how to get kids involved in the Mars project.
The Imagine Mars Project encourages hands-on learning, according to a TISD news release. A science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-based project, it requires students to imagine and design a community on Mars.
The project has the potential to enrich students' understanding in various aspects of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which is the state standards for what students should know.
In one of the training exercises, teachers created a scaled version of the solar system using string, beads and other tools. This is a project they could complete with students next year.
Caldwell Elementary Arts Academy fifth-grade teacher Andre Williams said students show a lot of enthusiasm about the Imagine Mars Project and by the end of the year, they love science. "As a teacher, it's exciting for me to see students engaged in learning and having fun at the same time," Mrs. Williams said, according to the news release.
